


Should Have Seen the Other Guy

by iSaphura



Category: Lupin III
Genre: Bar Room Brawl, First Aid, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:35:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25389895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iSaphura/pseuds/iSaphura
Summary: What was supposed to be a quiet night off before the big heist end with Jigen getting dragged into a fight, and then dragging himself home. Luckily Lupin is there to pick up the pieces.
Relationships: Jigen Daisuke/Arsène Lupin III
Comments: 9
Kudos: 81





	Should Have Seen the Other Guy

**Author's Note:**

> Taken from a prompt I saw over on the-wandering-whumper's tumblr blog (I've been on a bit of a whump kick lately and this is the only fic I have to show for it??). Just something short and sweet. Not beta-ed and the formating is being stupid, so I apologize for any mistakes! Please let me know what you think!

Jigen had gotten into his first fight when he was seven years old. It couldn’t really be called a fight, it was three on one and the three other boys were twelve and practically twice his size and it was mostly them kicking the tar out of him. He was still just Daisuke back then. However, little Daisuke had managed to land one good hit on one of the older boys, so he liked to tell himself he put up a fight. He remembered lying on the bloody pavement, quietly crying until he finally picked himself up and limped back home. Unfortunately, as he got up the stairs his neighbor spotted him and since his mother wasn’t home, she bustled him into her apartment and started addressing his cuts and bruises.

He got a good scolding and two cookies out of it. His neighbor had been a good lady. He missed her some times.

After that, Jigen learned how to fight. He wasn’t big or strong like the other boys, but he was opportunistic and scrappy as hell. By the time he was twelve, even the older kids knew better than to pick a fight with him.

Older Jigen felt a bit like little Daisuke at the moment. The fight wasn’t nearly as one-sided… well, it was since it was four on one, but at least Jigen was walking away. He was rusty, it had been a long time since he had thrown a punch. Normally all he had to do was pull his Smith & Wesson and make a couple of choice shots for people to back the fuck off, but tonight there was alcohol and a language barrier involved, one that even his revolver couldn’t translate.

He and Lupin were in a city called Haarlem, far from the neighborhood in Manhattan. It wasn’t far outside Amsterdam, which was where they would be heading tomorrow night to relieve some rich folks of their rich goods. Tonight, Lupin was putting the finishing touches on their disguises, so Jigen decided to go out for a drink. It took a while to find a bar that suited him: a hole in the wall, a bit seedy, not too crowded. He ordered a whiskey neat using his broken Dutch, and the bartender shrugged before pulling the bottle from the shelf. Jigen nursed his first drink and didn’t have to ask for his second or third. He kept to himself at his corner of the bar, watching the couple of locals who came in and just enjoyed the relative quiet. He was just taking a sip of his fourth drink when a group of local boys came in, loud and obnoxious, and already drunk. Drunk enough that they had probably gotten kicked out of the last bar they had visited.

The bartender scowled and Jigen ignored them, however, they did not ignore him. They crowded around him, making jokes at his expense once it became clear he didn’t speak the language. And then one of them made a mistake. Jigen felt him tug at his waistband, but before he could stop him the man had jumped back and was waving Jigen’s gun around.

The bartender started screaming, and Jigen threw the first punch. It landed squarely on the man who took his gun’s nose. The guy dropped the gun. For some reason, nobody went for it, but it eventually went skittering off under a table as the fight picked up in intensity. They just went for Jigen. By the time all was said and done, one of them had a dislocated shoulder, one was out cold, another had gone through a table and the fourth, the one who had started it, was moaning on the floor.

The bartender glared at Jigen and pointed to the door. Jigen picked up his gun, apologized in English, left a hefty tip, and left.

Which brought him to the present. Jigen had come out on top but hadn’t come out unscathed. He had a bloody nose, his right eye was in the process of swelling shut, a splitting headache, a slice along his upper arm after one of the guys grabbed a bottle and broke it, and his shins were sore from a couple of kicks. All told, he felt like a punching bag as he limped back to the hideout. Thankfully it was late so not too many people were on the streets, and he could slip into the shadows to let anyone who was out pass him by.

Finally, Jigen made it back. He fished the key to the apartment out from his coat pocket and slipped it into the lock. Slowly, he opened the door. The apartment was dark, Lupin must have either headed out himself or gone to bed. Good, with any luck Jigen would be able to take care of his injuries and also get some sleep. He was going to be sore in the morning, that was for sure, but he didn’t need to have Lupin worry…

He was momentarily blinded as the lights turned on. He tried to reach for his gun but the keys got in the way. He wasn’t prepared for another fight. How had Zenigata…?

“And where have you been?”

Jigen relaxed. “Fuck, Lupin, I almost shot you.”

“Couldn’t resist,” Lupin replied as he turned the lights down. Jigen finished closing the door and did his best not to limp as he walked to the kitchen.

“What happened to you?” Lupin asked.

“Nothing,” Jigen replied.

“Last time I saw you that tie was white,” Lupin said. “Not white with blood-red polka-dots.”

Jigen looked down. Great, now he needed a new tie. “Yeah well, it’s not all mine. Got into a bit of an argument at the bar.”

“Let’s see you.”

Jigen reluctantly turned around and Lupin studied him from the couch. Nothing got by the thief. After several seconds Lupin stood up and pointed to the couch as he walked towards the bathroom. “Sit down, I’ll get the first aid kit.”

Jigen first took a bag of frozen peas from the freezer and gingerly pressed it to his eye before doing as Lupin said and sitting on the couch. Normally, first aid kits were bare-bones affairs: bandages, some antiseptic wipes and ointment, and maybe some burn cream and an ace bandage. The kit Lupin returned with was not a bare-bones affair. Along with the fore mentioned items, it had sutures, a variety of surgical needles, three hypodermics, pain killers ranging from ibuprofen to things you usually needed a prescription for, and anything else a pair of criminals might need to tide them over until they could find a doctor who wouldn’t ask too many questions.

“Lupin I’m not dying,” Jigen said.

“No but you are bleeding from at least three different places,” Lupin replied. He put the kit down and went to get some water and a washcloth or two. “Take off your jacket.”

Jigen did as he was told. The last time Lupin had pulled out the kit over a fucking splinter, Jigen had ended up with his arm in a sling as retribution for not listening to Nurse Lupin’s directions. He flinched as the fabric brushed against the wound on his arm. Before he could protest Lupin removed his hat.

“Yeah, keep the peas on that,” Lupin said. “What happened? You forget your gun?”

“No,” Jigen mumbled.

“One of them grab it?” Lupin waited for a response and then when he got none said, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I’m fine, really,” Jigen said. “The other guys…”

“Guys?”

“Four of ‘em.”

“Jesus Christ, Jigen, you have a death wish?”

“They started – OW!”

He pulled back as Lupin dabbed at his arm with a cloth. Lupin grabbed Jigen’s shoulder so he couldn’t pull away again and continued to poke around the slash, cleaning away the blood. It wasn’t bleeding anymore, thankfully, but it was still a mess.

“Doesn’t look like there’s any glass in there, and it’s not deep enough to need stitches,” Lupin mumbled. He pulled out a pair of scissors and cut the sleeve off. Jigen chomped on his lip as Lupin went to work cleaning and bandaging the wound. He noticed that it ended near an old bullet wound, making the old scar and the new wound look a bit like a messed up comet.

Man, he really needed to go to bed.

“Lemme see your face.”

Jigen pulled the bag of peas away. The cold had lessened the swelling some, but not enough for him to completely open his right eye. Lupin’s eyes flicked from injury to injury until he sighed and got a new damp cloth. “Job’s off tomorrow.”

“Wh-wha-? No!” Jigne spluttered. “Lupin, I’m fine! I’ll be fine! You’ve been looking forward to this job for the last few months!”

“Jigen, I may be a master with a makeup brush, but there is only so much I can do why your face has more lumps that the moon,” Lupin said. “Besides, I need you in top shape for this, and you’re not going to be able to fire that rifle of yours with that arm and that eye.”

Jigen scowled. Lupin was right. The recoil from the rifle would aggravate his arm, and he wouldn’t be able to aim down the scope properly with his eye; his depth perception was shot as it was. Not to mention there was bound to be some running from the cops and he wouldn’t be able to run at top speed for very long.

“I feel a bit bad for Pops,” Lupin said as he wiped at some of the dried blood under Jigen’s nose. Jigen jerked back. “Hold still, would’ya? He came all this way. Wasn’t expecting him to get a flight on such short notice, but I should have known he would manage it.”

“You going to let him know?”

“I’ll send him a bottle of something for his troubles. What were you drinking?”

“Whiskey.”

“I’ll send him some whiskey then. 'Dear Pops, sorry to drag you all the way to the other side of the globe, but Jigen picked a fight with some locals and got his butt kicked so we're taking the night off'."

"Quit it!" Jigen laughed and shoved Lupin.

"'Enjoy this whiskey, it is coming out of Jigen's paycheck'." Lupin grinned. "For now, we just focus on you, my dear Jigen, and getting that pretty face of yours back to normal.”

“It’s just a black eye and a scratch," Jigen said. "I’ve had worse.”

“I know,” Lupin said. “I know.”

Lupin finished cleaning up Jigen’s face and handed him the bag of peas. Jigen lifted it back to his eye while Lupin carried the bowl of now red water and cloths over to the sink. They had both suffered worse injuries, worse defeats. They had both been stitched back together, both were a mess of scar tissue. But what made tonight different was they weren’t alone. Lupin came back over to the couch and carefully wrapped his arms around Jigen.

“Didn’t your mom ever teach you not to pick bar fights?” Lupin purred.

“She taught me to finish them,” Jigen replied. His head tipped onto Lupin’s shoulder. “Besides, you should ‘a seen the other guys.”


End file.
